Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the new rising star of the Liberal Party, recently made waves. Anita Sethi of the U.K.-based openDemocracy accused the Australian government of preferentially admitting Labor-leaning Indian migrants to protect its voter base. In the course of that interview, she said several things that caused a firestorm of reaction from her own party. Unsurprisingly, her relations with the Indian diaspora in Australia have soured.
Price wasted no time in her damage control. She apologised for her comments and noted that she did not mean to offend Indian Australians. She later acknowledged that her comments constituted a “mistake.” She remarked upon the great contribution, energy and enthusiasm of Indian Australians in integrating and working very hard in Australia. Even after her apology, the fallout continues as her party faces a growing tide of dissent from within and scorn from outside.
Criticism from Within the Liberal Party
After Price’s statement, a number of backbenchers in the Liberal Party expressed their outrage. Among them was Deputy Prime Minister Sussan Ley, who refused to apologize for Price’s comments on three different occasions. Ley made it clear that her colleague would work directly with the community to discuss concerns raised by the comments.
“What I have offered to the Australian Indian community is my full support, my deep appreciation, my ongoing warmth for what they bring to this country and how we value them as migrants,” Ley remarked, highlighting her commitment to fostering positive relationships with the Indian community.
Ley further stated, “Others will make their own remarks. I know that as leader, the most important message I can send is that appreciation of our Indian community heard directly from me as leader.” With respect to Policy Exchange, the party is desperate to distance itself from Price’s inflammatory comments. Simultaneously though, it is doubling down on its investment to the Indian Australian community.
Tensions with Alex Hawke
As the outrage continued to mount, Price even had the gall to call her fellow Liberal MP Alex Hawke “cowardly” for his actions. She accused him of bullying her staff for her remarks. She described how Hawke would call her office demanding to know why she was speaking out against him and how this made her feel.
Later that day, I messaged him on WhatsApp to confront him for his cowardly and unprofessional behavior,” Price explained. Hawke did not respond to the accusations directly in his past response. Instead, he welcomed—instead of calling for her resignation—Price’s attempts to distance herself from those remarks.
“I support her ongoing work to clarify the comments she made last week and helping return this debate to the issue of overall migration levels and having a sustainable migration program,” Hawke noted. This statement suggests a desire within parts of the party to shift focus back to broader migration discussions rather than personal disputes.
The Broader Migration Debate
The Coalition’s cuts The Coalition is against high levels of permanent migration and wants to lower the current figure of 180,000. They further call for lowering it to between 140,000 and 180,000.
“My concern — as it is for millions of Australians — is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications,” Price stated during a recent interview. “My concern is not migration itself — it’s the magnitude of migration.” Contrary to the prevailing narrative, this is illustrative of a growing nativist or anti-migration tendency within the party’s establishment. No doubt they think it needs more deliberative thought than that.
Ley echoed these sentiments, stating, “And we need to get this debate to the stage where we are looking at the long term and we have a sustainable level of net overseas migration in the long term.” She cautioned against scapegoating certain groups in the migration debate, saying it’s a “terrible, terrible error.”
